Future Credit Cards, End Game of Credit or Debit Cards in Near Future

Future Credit Cards! Envision walking to your nearby supermarket, popping your essentials in a basket, heading to the billing counter and walking out of the store with your essentials without making a payment. There is no exchange of money or swiping of a credit or debit card, a purely cashless and cardless transaction. And no, it is not shoplifting either.

So what could this be? This could be how payments can be done in the future. It is a realistic prospect of the future way to pay – when technology recognises your presence, scans your shopping, and invisibly takes payment from your account.

This new feature according to Amer Sajed, the chief executive of Barclaycard, will spell the steady demise of the physical plastic credit card. “People will be able to seamlessly shop going between the web, an app or in store,” he says.

For many of us out there, it will raise a lot of questions about privacy, security as well as lead to the creation of a battle for control of the digital wallet between banks and technology companies.

The first universal credit card, which could be used at a variety of establishments, was introduced by the Diners’ Club, Inc., in 1950.

Ever since then, the credit card has evolved but the procedure of making a payment by the card is still the same. A card is either handed over during physical transactions, or the card number is read out in telephonic transactions or entered into a computer or other device in digital transactions.

However, all that requires the existence of a plastic card, but according to Mr. Sajed this is being replaced by wearable items to help the shopper make payments on credit.

At a display for Barclaycard staff, he shows off a plastic ring, a bracelet and a key-chain which all contain a chip that will allow the shopper to make payments on credit.

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This new form of payment, according to Mr. Sjed, will be a bridge to technology that will see customers identified by their eye or fingerprint, located via their smartphone, and able to shop without queuing up at a checkout.

As mentioned earlier, it’s a scary thought about whether our privacy will really be maintained or even the potential threat of hackers getting into the system and stealing your card details.